I'm Happy 幸せだ
by pahlee
Summary: What does it take to achieve true happiness when nothing seems to be going right? Oblivious people and stray hearts make everything harder than it should. "In true love the smallest distance is too great, and the greatest distance can be bridged." - Nouwe. COMPLETE
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

**I'm Happy**  
>by pahlee<p>

_This story takes place after the events in the manga._

Prologue

Ranma watched as Akane turned her back to him, her shoulders slumped as she began to retreat.

"Akane, wait!" Ranma cried out feeling incredulously guilty, "I-I didn't mean it that way!"

She stopped, her form shaking: she was crying. Ranma's heart dropped as he heard her strained voice say, "It's fine, Ranma." She took on step forward and kept going as she muttered under her breath, "You never do."

With an outstretched arm, he tried to reach for her, but she was already gone. He called out her name, hoping she would turn back and fight him, show him that she acknowledged him. Her passive attitude scared him.

Did she not care anymore?

#

Hurriedly, she wiped her tears away. Her vision blurred as she briskly made her way home. She was _not_ angry, she found herself thinking, nor was she surprised about it. In fact, she chastised herself for not seeing the inevitable.

Stupid! How stupid was she to believe that...that there was _any _chance that they had any chance together.

What was it about the way Ranma would talk down on her that made her shed those tears? She wanted nothing more than to hate him - but she knew she never would.

So, she decided on this day that she would do everything in her will power to make Ranma happy - without her and to find her own happiness elsewhere.

His happiness never depended on hers, so why should hers? She will find a way - because they deserve much better. He voiced it enough, she was nothing but someone who got in his way, a stone that blocked his full potential.

Starting today, Akane Tendo, age 19 will fall _out _of love with Ranma Saotome. And be able to say one day, "I'm happy."

**Author's Note**  
>There is a story floating around called "His Happiness" by Quik (you can see a link to it in my favorites) here that actually inspired me to write this, along with all the country songs that I have been listening to. Teehee. This one will be more angsty, hopefully. I am working on Chapter 1 now, and stay with me, I am writing this on my mobile phone. (Frikkin' love my Samsung Infuse).<p> 


	2. Chapter 1: Notice

Akane struck a pose in the dressing room, the bathing suit hugging her curves just the right ways in the cute, yet modest, one-piece she was sporting. The ruffles near the edge were cute and the bright red color attracted her to it in the first place. A smile made its way across her small face as she sighed, "This one."

She made her purchase and left the store promptly, the bag tucked safely under her arm. Humming softly to herself, she went store-to-store, window shopping until she realized the time and began to make her way home. In the familiar streets, full of people going places and making faces, Akane walked peacefully to the place she was proud to call home.

Save for the fact a certain pigtailed martial artist, whom she had been avoiding the past week, home was _home_.

"I'm back!" Akane called out as she took her shoes off at the front door. A faint welcome was heard from the kitchen as Akane made her way up the stairs only to be blindsided by a little old man bounding down the staircase.

"Hubba hubba, Akane-chan!" he yipped as he snatched the bag out of her possession, recognizing the store logo on it, and proceeded to open the goods and display her new suit to the world with a leer, "Akane-chan, this does not suit a beauty like you!" He then proceeded to toss it in the air and out of the recesses of his person brought out a very scanty, very _sluty_, bathing suit.

"Why don't cha model this little number for ole Happi?" He made his move to touch her only to be punted and kicked out of sight by a soaking wet, male, Ranma - breathing heavily with his eyes narrowed, "Get outta here ya old crone!"

He huffed in anger only to have a red fabric land on his head, blinding his vision. "Huh?" came the intelligent reply from the boy as he reached for the offending material and held it before him.

"What th-" was all he got before Akane snatched it out of his hands and clutched it to her chest and walked away. It took a moment for Ranma to process what had just happened and when it finally hit him, his face flushed red when he realized what he was holding moments ago.

He looked down at his hands and thought, "_T-that was a bathing suit._" His face reddened more, "_Akane's bathing suit..._"

#

Shutting the door behind her, Akane blushed heavily as she leaned against it. Calming down, she straightened up and went towards her bed and placed the suit on her bed. She sighed as she sat on her bed, crossing her ankles as she lay on her side. She was so embarassed.

"Dammit," Akane muttered as she rolled on her other side and her hair splayed across the pillow. She curled her fingers around her hair that framed her face before, her hair was longer now. It licked just the bottom of her neck, she noted. Closing her eyes, she fell into a light slumber.

#

_Akane brought her hand up to her short cropped hair, her eyes full of sadness and relief at the same time._

_"I used to wear my hair short," she said as she stood before him in her yellow gi. Ranma was standing there, watching her look down at the ground as she talked. He reached out and cupped her chin in his palm, forcing her eyes to his._

_"I like it, y-you look good with short hair, Akane." he said._

_Akane's eyes shone a bit brightly as she gazed into his blue eyes boring into hers. "R-really?" Akane whispered. He blinked as he nodded his head, "Yeah, you look really c-cute."_

#

Akane rolled over in her sleep as she clutched the pillow and softly breathed in her sleep. "Ranma," she murmured as she tossed in bed.

#

Ranma narrowed his eyes as he sat on his futon, staring down at his hands remembering the suit. His brows furrowed as he realized that it was such a vibrant color, so bright, that it was sure going to attract the attention of unwanted men's stares at the beach. And he sure as hell did not want that.

#

"Take off your cover-up," Nabiki said as she lay on her back, pushing her sunglasses up on her nose as she got comfortable. "Easy for you to say," Akane mumbled as she soon found herself, self-conscious about displaying her body to the world now. Save for her sister, Nabiki, clad in a scanty two piece working on her tan, and even Kasumi donned a bikini, Akane sat with knees under her in a white cotton cover up.

Her father sat not too far from the trio, playing a game of shogi with Genma under a huge beach umbrella. Ranma was sitting next to them, by the cooler, drinking a tall glass of lemonade and basking in relief that he could spend the day as a male at the beach thanks to some water proof soap. Unnoticed by Akane, Ranma kept throwing sideway glances at her.

"Go on," Nabiki urged, "What's the matter? Shy?"

Akane blushed as her hand hovered over the zipper as she listened to her sister. In actuality, she was just afraid of what Ranma would say about it. Maybe that her hips were too wide to be wearing this kind of suit, or perhaps her chest is too small to fill in the top...or even perhaps she was just plain ugly.

Contrary to popular belief, Akane always found herself to be an average girl, pretty even, but when Ranma called her uncute and not at all sexy over and over again, it kind of gets to a person. But, recalling her earlier memories and promise, she sucked it up and pulled down the zipper, allowing the cover up to fall off her shoulders and onto the ground.

Nabiki had sat straight up, her hand up to her face holding down her sunglasses as she gawked at her sister who now stood up. An illicit, "Oh my!" escaped from Kasumi's direction as she checked out her baby sister. Passing by males stopped and their jaws dropped as Akane went to put away her clothes. A light pink blush played across her cheeks. Ranma's eyes almost bugged out when she did that and that brought him clamoring to his feet.

"Can I get you a snocone?" one eager boy asked, scampering over to the youngest Tendo.

"No, let me get you some chilled ramen!" another boy coming onto the scene interjected.

"Don't listen to those punks, let me get you a sundae!" a third one chimed in.

And so it began. Akane blushed brightly as the boys aided to her and for a brief moment, could have sworn that she saw jealousy in Ranma's eyes only to be answered with him sitting back and crossing his arms and looking away. She sighed and mentally kicked herself for thinking that jerk would even care and began to politely decline all their offers.

Only to hear the end of Ranma's snide comment, "Pfft, like any reasonable guy would want to take her out."

She bristled at that comment, her ears reddening as she blushed from embarrassment. She gritted her teeth and grabbed a hold of one of the boys and gave her drop dead smile, "On second thought, that sounds fun," she turned her head, "Nothing's tying me down here," she added as the boy's face lit up and his arm went around her waist rather quickly.

Rather uncomfortable, Akane went with it - because it was true, _nothing_ was binding her to that spot anyways. But, all good things end (bad idea or not) when Soun picked up what was happening and added his two cents.

"Baby girl! What is the meaning of this? Think about your fiancee!" he cried.

Akane was about to retort when Ranma interjected, "Like I care who that tomboy goes out with." She narrowed her eyes and clutched the stranger boy's arm with a bit more force when she slipped, "You heard him daddy," she pulled on the boy's arm to indicate their leave, "He d-doesn't care," her voice broke before they took their leave.

Ranma winced when he heard the hurt in her voice. His father began to yell at him to go get her back but really, what was the real danger? He could keep an eye on them. Because, he was going to anyways.

You thought Ranma would just sit back and let a total stranger grope _his _fiancee like that? In front of him none-the-less? Well, you will be saddened to know that that is not the case here.

Ranma's jealous. So bloody jealous, that it is miraculously controlled at the moment that the slightest irritation to his chi just might blow everything off course. He narrowed his eyes as he watched Akane walk away, with an extra step in her bounce.

Akane mentally rolled her eyes as the boy kept talking about his extensive cactus collection. She feigned a fake smile all the while she sat on the stool with her legs crossed. Little did she know she had an audience lurking a few tables behind her hiding behind a menu.

Ranma scowled at the event taking place before him and was relieved when he saw Akane's bored look. A satisfied grin conquered him only to be lost when he heard two voices he did not want around.

"Mercenary girl no lie, airen there!"

"Oh! Ranchan! Ranchan!"

He groaned as they revealed his hiding spot to Akane and Mako, he overheard him introduce himself, who directed their attention towards his hiding spot. Ranma flushed red when Akane narrowed her eyes at him and huffily turned back to Mako who was shocked at Ranma's posse.

"Ignore them," Akane said, "They're just busy-bodies."

Ranma groaned as Shampoo latched onto his arm, cooing his name in her native tongue while Ukyo berated them with verbal insults. Hanging his head low, he rolled his eyes but only to be shocked out his reverie when he heard a voice say, "Who's that boy with Akane?"

Snapping his head up, he saw Ukyo cocking her head at Akane and Mako. Shampoo leered up and a feline grin appeared, "So girl finally give up on airen? All too too good, she see how Ranma no like pervert girl, prefer Shampoo!"

Akane's ears reddened and she winced a bit. Mako chuckled nervously as he dared not look over. The whole restaurant was listening in. Ukyo added in more comments and Ranma did nothing to stop it. Her eyes filled with unshed tears, she turned her head, missing the pain Ranma held in his eyes for her, "Hn, it would appear so."

Then the unexpected happened that blew all their minds. Akane calmly got up, Mako following and left. With no last retorts of sideway glances - she just up and left.

The rest of the day, she managed to pry off unwanted attention of the boys and found a small secluded area where she could dip her feet into the cool ocean. She sighed dreamily as she wished she could swim but quickly chased that notion away as the waters licked her heels.

A small giggle escaped her lips as she sank back in the sand, reveling in the momentary peace. But it brought a frown to her face and a single tear to roll down her reddened cheek.

#

Ranma searched high and low for Akane as he raced around the beach. His heart was racing fast as he recalled her saddened face: it tore at his heart.

He groaned as he realized that she had been acting quite different lately and as of late, he noticed just how much of a jerk he acted towards her. His guilt in his gut lurched as he remembered the all too familiar feeling of how he almost lost her at Jusendo...

"Dammit," he muttered. He forced himself to go faster frantically searching for the girl he denounces every chance he gets.

Out of breath, he came to part of the beach that had one track of prints in the sand. He knelt down and stared at the impression, it **had** to be Akane's. With that, he quietly followed them only to be led to a small opening where he spotted his fiancee.

Alone, might he add.

He breathed in a sigh of relief as it flooded his senses to see that she was by herself, but it was completely washed away when he saw what happened next. For some reason, he hid behind the rocks and peered over.

Akane had apparently seen something of interest on the ground and had taken off from her sitting position and was bent over at the waist, giving him a glorious view of her _ass_ets. He swallowed a huge lump in his throat as his eyes betrayed him as they gazed over her form.

Damn his all male mind.

He found himself turning his head away when he saw her sudden movement, shifting from her prone position, to having her head up and looking in his direction. He gulped; he hoped she had not seen him. Oh god, the accusations.

"I know you're there," Akane said in a bored tone, "So, wherever you're hidin', you can come out."

Ranma sighed a breath of relief as she realized it was not hi- "Ranma!" Never mind.

He let out a defeated groan as he stepped out from his hiding spot with his arms in the air, feigning surrender to the girl. "How'd ya know it was me?" he asked sheepishly as he made his way towards her.

"I've known you for years," Akane said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I can just tell."

He stared at her for a moment, he watched as she clearly avoided his gaze. So, he did what came natural to him, he bluntly asked, "Are ya mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" Akane asked, she turned her head to him, but failed to meet his stare, "You haven't done anything for me to be mad over."

"But...you...that guy..." Ranma stuttered, not expecting the answer she gave. Confused now, Ranma tried to get her to lock eye contact, but it never came.

"What about him?"

"Back at the restaurant, a-and the comment I made beforehand!"

"So?" Akane replied somewhat cold, turning around and her shoulder now faced Ranma, "You were just commenting on behalf your welfare, I know how..." she paused for a moment before she shrugged, "Embarrassing it must be for you to have a fiancee like me around. So I understood. No biggie, happens all the time, Ranma. So...why get mad _now_?"

Ranma froze. He felt his heart tighten at her words, and right when he was about to say something he heard Kasumi's voice call out their names and the family appearing beside them out of breath.

"Oh thank goodness we found you!" Kasumi exclaimed, unaware of the moment she stepped in on, "It was getting late and we were starting to get worried!"

"Sorry," came Akane's voice as she brushed past them and to the family, grabbing her own bag, "We're all here now...so why don't we head home?" And just like that, she turned and began walking away. The whole family turned to Ranma for an explanation, but he could only shrug his shoulders.

#

It had been three days since the beach trip, three days since that horrible happenstance between him and Akane. They had not talked, no more than the general acknowledgments to one another. And this frustrated him. Her words ate at him, day in and day out.

He sat perched on the tall gate ledge, overlooking the outside of the Tendo household, watching people begin to start their day. Akane had left a while ago on her morning jog, and Ranma was waiting for her. His eyes scanned the sidewalks, hoping to catch glimpses of his aforementioned fiancee.

A few more flitting moments passed before Akane finally approached the gate. Her sweat was glistening down her forehead as she came to a stop and did a few stretches before walking into the gate. He hopped down and landed in front of her. Startled, Akane took a step back with hand over her heart.

"Ranma! Watch it! You scared me!" Akane said.

"I really think you're mad at me..." Ranma said bluntly.

Akane looked at him with an incredulous look on her face, "We've talked about this," she motioned her arms, "I told you, I'm not." On that note, she made her way around him and went into the house.

It was then that Ranma knew, he was losing her.

This time, it seemed serious.

**Author's Note**  
>Oh golly, what a long wait for this update. I apologize! But none-the-less, here you go! Ah, and this will be among my last updates for the week because it is finals week here at my university.<p> 


	3. Chapter 2: Realization

Akane took her tank top off, clad in a sports bra and panties, she crossed her room with a sigh. She took a glance at her drawn curtains as she went to her dresser looking for clean underwear for after her bath. As she was bent over digging through her drawer, her door swung open to reveal Ranma looking around frantically.

"What the hell?" Akane hissed as she stood up, draping a shirt over her exposed body, she waved her arm, "Shut the damn door, Ranma!"

He did, while he stepped inside. He obviously did not think it through as he felt clothes being thrown at him, "Not with you in my room, dummy! Get out! Out!"

Ranma put his arms over his head as he confessed, "Hey! Quit it! It ain't my fault! I saw that 'ole lecher come up here!"

She quit her attacks as she breathed, her chest falling into place as she narrowed her eyes. She had thrown almost all her clothes so she stood exposed in her bra and panties before Ranma who took a good long look at her.

Ranma gulped, his breathed hitched as he took in her form, a blush rising to the occasion. He watched, through his fringe, the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, the fire in her eyes as she raised her head to lock gazes with him.

"You couldn't have said that? Instead of barging in on me, you pervert!" Akane accused.

"Like I want to peek on a flat-chested girl like you anyways!" Ranma sputtered automatically, instantaneously regretting it as he saw her flinch. The blush still resided on his cheeks as he saw her march up to him, grab him by the front of his Chinese shirt, "Then don't! I can handle Happosai on my own!"

She then proceeded to push him out her door, and slam it shut, locking it in the process. Ranma skidded down the hallway as he turned to look at Akane only to be met with her door.

He groaned internally as he stared at the door.

#

Akane groaned as she plopped down on her bed, running both hands through her hair as she fought with herself. Outside her window, she heard Happosai cry out in happiness as he yelled something about the pretties on the line.

Just great.

Now she has to go shopping for some underwear now. Ruffling her hair, she finally calmed down to get up and go do her bath. After she finished, she went downstairs for breakfast where Kasumi was finishing setting the table. Her eldest sister smiled at her as she took a seat.

"You're looking nice today." Kasumi stated.

Grabbing chopsticks, Akane smiled, "Thank you."

#

"Where's Akane?" Soun asked groggily as he made his way down to breakfast. Nabiki sat there, picking at the rice as she read the morning's newspaper. Kasumi looked up, "She said she had to go do something in town, she'll be back by dinner."

Ranma's ears perked up as he shoved food down his mouth, pretending not to care. But, he was. Oh, yes.

When Kasumi was cleaning up, Ranma sheepishly asked, "Do ya know where...uh..."

"She said something about a store called Holly's."

#

Ranma blushed ridiculously hard when he arrived at the storefront. He had no time to even think of using his curse to rid him of embarassment as he sauntered in. The heavy scent of perfume almost knocked him out as lingerie presented themselves to him as he walked in.

A blush kept itself present on his face as he walked in, there were girls of all ages in every crevice looking at the items for sale. A petite girl with a wiry frame decked in every variation of pink approached him with a nametag, "Haruko".

"Hello sir! Is there anything I can help you look for?"

"Uh," came his short reply.

"Something for your girlfriend?" she asked as she noted his handsome features, just noting that he has a girlfriend.

"I don't have a girlfriend!" Ranma exclaimed quickly. Haruko rolled her eyes mentally and groaned: saying to herself, "_Just great, he's one of _those_ guys. What a pervert._ " But on the outside she gave a fake grin, only to be shocked by his next words, "F-for my fiancee!"

"Fiancee, huh?" Haruko grinned, "Oh my, something for the wedding night then, hnn? Or just for everyday general antics," she motioned with her hands, "You stud, you."

Haruko has never seen anyone blush as red as Ranma did that instance only for him to nod at her words. Just then, a shuffle from behind them caught their attentions as Akane came trifling through with these cute pasty panties in her arms. She bumped into Haruko, looked up to apologize only to turn and face Ranma. It was then, Haruko noted, she saw the two reddest people in the world.

Putting two and two together, Haruko clapped her hands together and cheerfully announced, "Oh, she must be your fiancee! She's gorgeous!"

Akane looked at her in disbelief as she then turned back to Ranma and he blushed. Akane sighed as she shoved her things into Ranma's arms and turned sweetly to Haruko, "Hnn, yes ma'am, this handsome fellow is my fiancee. Now we're browsing for now, and we'd apprieaciate it if we could look privately?"

"Of course" Haruko chirped as she turned on her heel and began to leave, "Holler if you need assistance!"

When she was out of ear shot, Akane jammed her finger into Ranma's chest, "What the hell are you doing here, Saotome?" He shoved her thinhs back to her as he spat back, "I think the better question is why are you in a store like this, ya tomboy!"

"If you haven't noticed!" Akane growled, "I'm a girl!"

She then proceeded to haul her things to the front with Ranma trailing after her. "Come on Akane..." he pleaded. Akane shot her head back as she purchased her things and turned on her heel as she left the store. "Leave me the hell alone, Saotome. Why don't you go to Ukyo or Shampoo? I'm sure they'd enjoy your company."

Outside the store, Ranma steeled himself as he found himself reply to her back, "And what, you don't?"

It was silent between the two, he watched her shoulders slump as she let out an aggravated sigh and turned to face him, unshed tears brimming her eyes, "Honestly, right now, Ranma? I'd rather be alone."

#

Akane sat in the backyard, eating strawberries as she watched the koi swim in the pond. Slowly, she bit into the fruit as she sat there in tranquil silence. It was only broken when Ranma came crashing in, complaining about being ambushed on the way home. Akane rolled her eyes, and mentally noted that if he had only came straight home instead of standing there in the middle of the street with a dazed look on his face, he would have been safe at home. But no, he did not and the girls' had a canny way of finding him.

Turning her direction towards the house, she saw Kasumi comfort Ranma with her words and offered him a cool towel, only for him to refuse and cock his head to the wooden doors and straight at Akane. He narrowed his eyes as he abruptly left Kasumi and marched to Akane.

"I hope ya had enough alone time!" he growled, "No thanks to you, I finally managed to escape."

Akane only blinked, and took another bite of her strawberry as she gave a half shrug and turned her back to him. That made Ranma furious. He found himself actually putting his hands on her shoulders and forcing her to look at him, "Seriously? Akane! What are ya, ten?"

"No." she simply said as she brought her hands up to pry his off as she stood up and dusted her skirt, "I'm 19, Ranma, and you're 20," she began to leave, "Maybe it's time you acted your age."

#

Ranma was crazily insane now, Akane was driving him up the walls. He ran his hand through his messy hair as he contemplated on his futon. His legs were crossed as he shifted, only to try to piece together everything.

So what if he was twenty? She was turning twenty also, in four months. Act his age? Pft, he already was. She was changing, no denying that - but why!

#

Akane finished folding all her new underwear when she collapsed on her bed and rolled onto her side to regard the wall. Closing her eyes, she began to do calming breathing excercises. Her breath got caught in her throat when she realized her actions and she braced herself for the tears.

The one thing she did not expect though, happened: the tears never came. She contemplated that for a moment, trying to register that feat, but nothing came up as she sat up.

"No..tears?" she whispered as she put her hand to her cheeks, "I'm not crying?" She blinked.

It was all starting to be easier to bear.

Maybe, this falling out of love business was not as hard as she pegged it to be. Despite that nagging feeling in her heart.

#

"Whaddya mean?" Ranma asked as he raised an eyebrow at Ukyo as he ate an okonomiyaki.

"Well, sug, she just walked in, greeted me and Konatsu, sat there," she pointed to the emptg seat next to him, "And asked me just point blank."

"..." Ranma sat there, "And...then what happened?

_The door to Ucchan's opened, Akane at the entrance with a posture that said business. She gave a peachy smile that made a person's heart just warm up at the gesture, "Hey, Konatsu-kun, Ukyo."_

_Konatsu looked up from the table he was wiping down and waved a rag in her direction and continued on with his work. Ukyo looked up the grill and greeted her with a smile. Akane walked over and took a seat the grill, her hands in her lap._

_"What can I get you today, hon?" Ukyo asked._

_"Ukyo, do you love Ranma?"_

_It wad silent. Konatsu heard nothing as he continued to bus the tables. Ukyo stared incrediously at Akane, her brows furrowed in confusion._

_"Course I do, sweetie..." she finally answered, "But you know that."_

_"I just wanted to hear it."_

_"Hear what?"_

_"That."_

_"That I love Ranchan?"_

_Akane nodded, putting her head down slowly. "I wanted to know how it'd feel, hearing someone declare loving someone outloud."_

_Ukyo looked at Akane, "Akane-chan, what's wrong?"_

_"Someone told me they loved me."_

_Ukyo froze, she knew the inevitable was bound to happen, so she braced herself and smiled for her, "Really? Who?"_

_"He found me, the other day. He said he couldn't forget me... all these years...he's asked me to return back with him."_

_That did not sound like Ranma at all._

_"Akane...w-who?"_

_Just then, a boy entered the establishment, his hair held back by a ponytail and his clothes were out of place, almost as if he lived in a forest._

_Akane stood up, walked to him and he reached out, held her hand, "Shinnosuke."_

The chopsticks in Ranma's hand broke into many shards, scattering over the grill. That caused Ukyo to exclaim and start cleaning up, but she continued with her story, "So she told me to take care of you, see to it that you're happy, and to not go after her."

Ranma clattered to his feet. His eyes narrowed in anger. He wanted to just strangle himself as he knew, he **knew** that she had been acting more differently than as of late, but he did not do anything.

"But...Ranchan, the weirdest thing; she left saying she was happy, and she smiled...but - it didn't look like she really was."

_Akane took a deep breath, steadying herself, "Tell him not to go after me, I'll be fine. T-tell him...I'm finally happy."_

**Author's Note**

Oh ho ho, look at me updating like a boss, haha. But here we go! A little bit more to the story and hehe, a touch of a cameo of one of my favorite characters. Enjoy!


	4. Chapter 3: Return

Ranma's palms began to trickle blood as his nails dug into his hand, he stood before the all too familiar door that he thought he would never have to see again; but, here he was.

It took him longer than expected to get where he was now, and his determination was fueled by his anger.

Two weeks, two damn weeks.

He raised his fist and began to pound on the door. He shouted, "Akane! Akane, I know you're in there!"

A moment later, the door opened to reveal a somber Shinnosuke, who, at the door, grinned at his guest, "Saotome."

"Shut it with the formalities," Ranma spat, barging into the small home only to be greeted by a homely place, with no feminine touches anywhere. He stopped and turned to Shinnosuke who had his arms up in a disbelieving gesture, "Y'know, Akane's not here."

Ranma stared at him, trying to determine his validilty.

"Where's the old man?" Ranma spoke, realizing that that man would tell him, if Shinnosuke was lying or not. It was then Ranma saw Shinnosuke's resolve break and he went to a divider in the room, moving it out-of-the-way, exposing a shrine, "Grandfather passed away."

#

Akane sat at the station, eating a peach as she flipped through the magazine. The train scheduled for Nermia was postponed for a bit, so she decided to just laze about until then.

#

Ranma stood there, frozen to the spot. He could not find the words to try and excuse him of his rudeness, he felt ashamed at that point, but Shinnosuke said nothing.

"You came for her, didn't you?" he finally asked.

Ranma looked up, took a hard look at him and nodded.

"Grandfather told me to do that too...right before he passed away." Shinnosuke said, "He wanted to see her, Akane...he wanted to see the girl I was so madly in love with, just one more time..." Shinnosuke froze, tears threatening to make an apperance, but he caught them, "Before he would go. Just to see me smile when I'm around her."

Ranma stood there, unsure what to do.

"She was the one he spoke to last...h-he was about to say something to me, but...he was gone before he could even utter a single syllabol."

#

_Grandfather looked so frail on his futon, his breathing slow and erratic as he lie there. Akane looked at him with sad eyes, her heart racing as she watched him._

_Shinnosuke stood off to the side, not able to bear to see his grandfather like that. Akane gently wrung out a damp cloth and gently placed it on his forehead, her soft voice assuring him that everything would be all right._

_Slowly, grandfather's hand rose up to clasp Akane's, a very weak voice escaped those withered lips, "Thanks for being Shinnosuke's friend..."_

_And just when the old man turned to his grandson, he tried to tell him to take care, to love, to be strong...but all he managed was to quiver for a moment before the life in his eyes disappeared forever. Akane was the first to react, slowly placing her hand over his still face, she closed his eyes and covered him with a blanket._

_Shinnosuke stood there, frozen, unaware of what to do in a situation like this. The boy watched as his friend slowly mutter something under her breath before she looked up at him with clouded eyes filled with tears, "I'm sorry for your loss, Shinnosuke. You know your grandfather loved you very much..."_

_Not getting a response, Akane rose from her spot and wrapped her arms around her friend. Whispering softly, "You can cry y'know..."_

_And he did._

_Helping Shinnosuke get back on his feet took a little longer than expected, about two weeks longer than it should. But Akane found herself unwilling to go until Shinnosuke settled everything. She understood what it was like to lose a loved one to clutches of death._

_One night, during a dinner the two shared, Shinnosuke asked, "You haven't said a word about Ranma..."_

_"There's nothing to be said about him," Akane replied coolly._

_"I know you still love him."_

_Fairly clumsy in general, Akane dropped her chopsticks from her grip and gaped at Shinnosuke, a cherry red blush hinting at the tips of her cheeks, "W-what are you talking about?"_

_"You talk in your sleep," Shinnosuke said bluntly, "Every night, you mutter his name in your sleep."_

_"What are you doing watching me sleep?" _

_Shrugging, "I just noticed it. It's okay...I accepted that a long time ago. He really loves you too."_

_"He doesn't love me."_

_"But I'm sure-"_

_"Shinnosuke, you only knew him in that brief moment we stayed here long ago, if you only what went on at home..."_

_"You're telling me he _doesn't_ bed you every night?"_

_Rice went everywhere as Akane spat out her food, looking at her companion with wide eyes, "No!"_

_Sitting back, Shinnosuke shrugged and crossed his arms in a thinking manner, "Hnn, he sure seemed very protective of you, I'd only assum-"_

_"Don't assume things between me and Ranma."_

_"Can I ask why?"_

_"Because he won't be happy with me, he's said so himself."_

#

Ranma sipped at his tea as Shinnosuke stood near the stove, watching the rice come to a boil. "And then she said she would head home, said something about having a lot of fun and didn't want to worry her family anymore. Said that she was happy."

"Akane left about two hours ago," he added slowly.

It was silent between the two boys. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed and was awkward as the two boys who held the most importance in one girl's heart stayed in the same room, without said girl.

"Why didn't she stay...Ukyo told me she was 'finally' happy, so why isn't she here with you?"

"God you're dense," Shinnosuke rolled his eyes as he continued, "She's only ever seen me as a friend, Ranma. She came back because I told her my grandfather was ill and that he wanted to see her once more. I-I told her I love her...told her she could stay and have a life here with me."

At those words, Ranma began to feel his anger rise.

"But she only smiled, thanked me, but told me she would only ever love me as a friend, not anything more. And you know what? It was okay, because I still have her friendship."

The aura of anger slowly subdued.

"She's a wonderful friend, Ranma, and her friendship means everything to me, even if she's not in love with me."

#

"Train for Nermia now boarding!" came the message through the old static intercom snapping Akane to action. Gathering her things, she walked to the train and boarded. Looking around, the train held only two other passengers, one sleeping middle-aged man in a suit and an elderly man reading a newspaper. Finding a spot away from them, Akane situated herself at a seat and crossed her legs, sighing as she looked behind her to see the train station platform.

A wry smile made its way on her lips as the thought of going home played in her mind. Softly she began to hum as the doors to the train began to shut, only to be paused, a patter of footsteps and then the swooshing of the door followed. Her eyes closed as she sat there in her own little world.

Her peace was then interrupted as she felt the seat next to her become occupied. Internally groaning, she opened her eyes only to come in contact with steel blue eyes brimming with determination. Shocked, and thanks to physics and shifting of the train, Akane lurched forward into Ranma who inevitably grasped her in his arms holding her in place.

"What the-" she said in a sharp intake as her head nestled between the crook of his neck and shoulder, "Ranma!"

Gently pulling away, they stared at each other for just a flitting moment before Akane tore her gaze away and huffily asked, "What are you doing here?"

"The better question is why are you?" Ranma snapped back.

"No one told you to come," Akane replied, her voice set in a serious tone, "You didn't have to come and get me."

"I know," Ranma said, "But I'm here aren't I?"

#

When they arrived home, Akane's family all celebrated her return with hugs and kisses. All the while they rejoiced, she slipped out and went to her room. She put down her pack and started to shift through her things, the last item she removed was the horn. She held it up and it reflected in the light as she recalled Shinnosuke's grandfather had given it to her. Slowly, she put it away in her dresser.

As she did, there was a knock on her door.

"Yeah?" she called out.

Muffled by the door came the response, "It's me, Ranma."

For a moment, Akane did not know what to do and she froze, but then strengthened her resolve and answered, "Door's open."

The doorknob rattle as he twisted it and sure enough there was a sullen Ranma, or atleast what looked like a sullen Ranma. Akane looked at him with a half smile, "What, did they just now notice I left the room?"

"No," he answered as he came in and shut the door behind him, locking it in the process, but Akane was too distracted by his presence to hear the click, "They're still celebrating. They're really glad that your back..."

"I bet," Akane scoffed, "Daddy and your father are probably drinking, and poor Kasumi has to care for them...Nabiki won't help. It's like I never left..."

"Then, do you wanna get outta here?"

Akane looked up, confused as she looked at Ranma, "Ranma...I just got back from a forest full of large animals and no indoor plumbing, I'd like to stay here...what are you going on about?" She stood up and threw her bag to a corner of her room, "Why don't you go ask Shampoo or Ukyo, I'm sure they'd be thrilled to go on a little _training_ trip with _you_."

"I don't want to go anywhere with one of them," he snapped back.

"Yeah," she muttered, "Not just one."

"What's wrong with you?" Ranma all but yelled, "What's up with your responses? What kinda guy do you take me for, 'kane?"

"An egotistical jerk," she promptly answered as she plopped down on her bed and crossed her legs, "That kinda guy."

Ranma as getting annoyed, this was not what he had planned when he decided to come talk to her.

"Akane!" He groaned.

"It's true, Ranma, geez, what do you want anyways?" She tried to be rude, in order for him to leave, her heart was thumping erratically as she realized just how much she missed him those two weeks, and how much it hurt.

What she did not expect was Ranma walking over and standing before her, she turned her head to face him as he forced her down on her back, and pinned her down by her shoulders, half-leaning over the bed.

Her face reddened, "What the hell are you doing, Ranma!"

"Why are you acting like this?" he whispered as he leaned forward more, his own cheeks reddening as he boldly made his move, "This isn't you..."

"What would you know about me?" Akane cried.

Both of their hearts began to race as he lowered himself more, pinning her to him, and his hot breath against her lips, "I know your favorite color is blue, I know you can't sleep when it storms, I know you hate carrots unless they've been steamed. I know you hate it when the other girls' hang all around me, I know you get jealous when I don't pay attention to you. I know you hate hitting me, but it's the only way for me to stop and listen to reason. I know you care too much...I know...you probably hate me, now."

The tears came as she cried under his hold, "You're wrong," she said through her tears, "I could never hate you..."

**Author's Note**

Well, here you guys go! Yesterday I got my heart tattoos (on the inside of my hand, on my pinkie fingers) touched up, so they're healing (again, lol). Yay for writing without my pinkie fingers, haha.


	5. Chapter 4: Attention

At the relief of her words, he let out a soft sigh.

"R-really?" he murmured against the column of her neck. He felt her nod her answer and as he lifted his head up, just mere inches away from hers, he drank in the way her eyes talked to him. The silence surrounding them thickened and his heart began to race as he leaned down to close the space.

Only to be interrupted by a rattle of the doorknob, and a voice calling out to them, "Akane? Are you in there?"

Kasumi's voice snapped Akane out of the trance she was in and not-so-gently pushed Ranma off of her as she replied, "Yeah, I'll be down in a minute, I had to change."

For the briefest of moments, it was an awkward silence until they heard Kasumi reply back, "That's fine, take your time. We just really missed you, Akane." And it could have been in Akane's imagination, but she thought she heard a bit of mischief in the way she conveyed her message. The flitting sounds of footsteps made it clear that she had left them alone again and Akane stared at the door.

When did it become locked? After contemplating it for a few moments, she realized Ranma must have done it. In that discovery, she turned to face him only to be greeted with him sitting on her bed, looking down at the floor with his hands clasped in his lap.

"R-Ranma," she began, mustering her courage and remembering the promise she made to herself as she took in a deep sigh and put up a false smile, "You know I'd never hate you, we're friends."

#

"_We're friends."_

The words kept echoing in his mind as he lay on his futon, his father snoring loudly beside him as he grumbled incoherent words throughout his sleep. Staring up at the all-too-familiar ceiling, he tried to reason all the possibilities as to why Akane had chosen those words. Closing his eyes, he grunted, "I don't want to be _just_ friends."

#

Since her return, the pace of life returned to its somewhat familiar pattern. Ukyo came around one day with okonomiyaki prepared for Akane. The two girls sat in the living room, eating when Ranma stumbled in on the weird scene. Upon his arrival, Akane looked up and gave a small smile to Ukyo, "Thank you again for the food, Ukyo but –" she made the move to leave, "I'm afraid I've got some errands to run, why don't you enjoy the rest of the okonomiyaki with Ranma?"

With a slightly confused look on her face, Ukyo nodded her head and watched as Akane deliberately left the room in a somewhat fast motion. Ranma narrowed his eyes as he was about to comment on the whole thing, but Ukyo beat him to it.

"She's back, huh," Ukyo smiled, "She told me what had happened, sorry Ranchan, I conveyed the message wrong…"

"Why were you two…" he began, still not believing what had happened, "I mean…"

"Akane's a really sweet girl," Ukyo interrupted him as she stood up and placed an unopened delivery box into his arms, "It's too bad I didn't really think that of her until all of _this_ took place."

With that, Ukyo made the move to kiss Ranma gently on the cheek as she turned to leave, "See you around, Ranchan…"

Bewildered, Ranma put his hand up on his cheek and felt somehow that it was wrong. Slowly rubbing away the residual feeling, he looked down at the food in his hands and for once wasn't all that in the mood to eat.

#

Akane sighed as she silently pushed herself on the swing in the park. Her feet dragged against the dirt as she slowly swayed there: alone. A small smile was evident on her face as she thought back to her conversation with Ukyo in the family room, and slowly her heart began to race.

"_I don't know why," Ukyo started as she picked up a piece of tomato off her food, "But…I-I don't know how to take that."_

"_It's really easy," Akane said, "It's not like it isn't obvious to everyone!"_

"_But," Ukyo said, knowing full well the truth behind the lie, her own heart knew the answer but her rational mind refused to accept it, "…that jackass really cares for you."_

"_He's a martial artist," Akane quickly defended, "It's his _duty_ to care about those, well," she took a moment to nibble on the steamed carrot that was on top of her okonomiyaki, "Are weak, and you know how many time's he's said I've only ever gotten in his way."_

"_I should feel really happy right now," Ukyo deferred, "But," her mind raced as she watched the girl before her, knowing all too well that the boy _she_ claimed to have _loved_ would never feel that way about her, "Akane…d-do you know what you're asking?"_

"_Absolutely," the petite girl said proudly, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have even propose the idea. I know we would've been great friends, had it not been for him, but now's that chance. I know what needs to be done."_

"_A-are you sure about this? I mean, Akane…"_

"_He's happy with you, you can cook, make him smile – things I can't do. You're also his best friend, Ukyo; something I can't compete with. Besides," Akane smirked a little, "I'm sure Shampoo would smother him."_

"_Why are you doing this?"_

"_It's to make him happy…make me happy."_

_Just then, a pigtailed boy came into view, stopping the flow of the conversation._

#

"She should be happy," Akane muttered as she felt a tear fall down and it surprised her, realizing that that was the first time she cried over this in a while, "She has to be…they'll be happy together."

She gripped the rope of the swing before hopping off and making her way home, she let out a sigh as she tried to think of ways of making this work, before losing her nerve and mind altogether.

#

He watched her, with a worried look as she came in and sat down in front of the television set. All her muscles screamed tense, and her aura flaming to be put out, and it hurt him to see her like that. And that was all it took for him to go over to her and pull her up, and against her will and his judgment he took off with her in his arms.

"Ranma!" she said, as she struggled in his hold as he held her over the shoulder and by his waist, "What are you doing?"

"We need to talk," he said as he began to race a bit faster, getting out of Nermia, "Now."

Kicking her legs and swinging her arms back and forth as she hit his back, "You couldn't have said that before kidnapping me, you jerk!"

"I'm not kidnapping you," he shot back, "I'm just bringing you somewhere as a surprise."

"Sounds like kidnapping!" Akane retaliated.

**Author's Note**

Oh my goodness, I have come to a stalemate with this story. I'm going to go listen to some country music and watch some sad movies as well as angsty stories or whatever. And look at some of my old work and think of something; I had this idea for this story and well, it's still going to happen, but the "build up" it's certainly in need of help…this may as well be a _teaser _in a sense of the next chapter, which…ohh I hope (if I do it right and get the inspiration) will be earning this story the rating for T, rather than M. Hahah!


	6. Chapter 5: Tears

He must be really worried about her if he took in stride the non-stop pounding she was doing to his back with her small balled up fists. Groaning a bit, and getting a bit annoyed at her antics, he finally came to stop into the mountains that were a few miles away from Nermia. After setting her down, she promptly put her arms in front of her in an angry brace and glared at Ranma.

"What," she began, enunciating each word with pure annoyance, "…do you think you're doing?"

Catching his breath, Ranma looked up from his prone position and stared at her through his fringe, determination set in his eyes. Akane caught his gaze and promptly took her line of vision elsewhere, her heart beginning to pound.

"Well?" She asked.

Ranma heaved a heavy sigh as he stared, his mind racing: he didn't think that far ahead. He gave out a nervous chuckle and said, "Uhh, I wanted to take you out on a walk?"

"Out here?" Akane exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air, "Have you lost your mind, Ranma?" She shook her head and let out a soft sigh as she turned her back to him and began to walk a little bit away from him, "What were you thinkin'…" slowly her murmur faded out, "I was watching my programs too…"

As Akane's thoughts kept her preoccupied, she was caught unaware when Ranma put his hand on her shoulder, forcing her to turn around and stare at him. Gasping slightly by being caught off-guard, she watched as his gaze pierced hers.

"Tell me something," he murmured, "W-what were you and Ukyo talking about before I came in?"

Huffing slightly, "What business is that of yours?"

"Well," he gritted through clenched teeth, controlling his anger for the sake of the conversation, seeing how he had to know, "You're _my_ fiancee…why do you gotta hide ya' conversation with Ukyo?"

"She's your fiancee too," she snapped back, but with a bitter tone, "Ask her."

"I'm asking you," he reacted, "What's going on, 'kane?"

Taking in a deep breath, Akane closed her eyes and they lingered there in silence before it was broken by her voice, asking softly, "Tell me, Ranma…would you marry your best friend?"

Taken back by the question, Ranma released Akane and took a step back. He narrowed his eyes and looked at her with confusion. What he saw was a girl deep in thought, waiting for his response. Gulping, Ranma began to stumble over his words.

"W-Well, y-yeah, I mean," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck frantically, the whole situation not going the way he had intended it to go, "Why wouldn't you marry your best friend, then?"

That was all it took to break Akane's resolve as her heart broke into tiny pieces. The tears came, and she had no will power to hold them back.

_So he does love Ukyo._

_She's his best friend….after all._

"Hnn," she began, her voice cracking, "That's all I needed to know Ranma."

Ranma stared at her incredulously and began to nervously fumble around as he saw the tears coming. What was the matter! His mind raced back to the words he had said, he thought she'd be happy! After all, he considered _her_ to be his best friend.

Aren't best friends the one who stay by your side no matter what? Fight for you, fight _with _you, argue…and are happy with one another? That was as close as he got to a confession to her, and there she stood: crying before him.

"Akane?" he said as he reached forward with his out stretched arms, but she moved away, her arms wrapped around herself, "W-what's wrong?"

"Nothing that I didn't expect," Akane said, not directly answering his question, but she began to walk back in the direction of Nermia.

"Wait!" Ranma called out, "Where are you going?"

"Home," she mouthed over her shoulder as the tears flowed freely now, dampening her curves of her cheeks as she brushed an unsteady hand across her face, "Don't follow me."

He stopped in his tracks as he watched her walk and his mind yelled at him to go after her, chastising him.

**What are you doing? Go after her. This isn't what you wanted. She's hurting. **

So he did.

#

She didn't get far as she was basically dragging her feet as she trudged home.

_That's all it took…he wants to marry his best friend. Why does it hurt so much…even though I knew it anyways?_

Letting out a sigh, she heard footsteps behind her and she turned to see Ranma running towards her. With that, she quickly turned around and broke out into a run.

Huff. Huff. Huff.

_Faster, come on…I can run faster than this._

She sprinted over a fallen log and tried to run as fast as she could, as far away from him.

"Akane!" he called out after her.

But she refused to let him see her like this anymore. No more.

With a burst of adrenaline, she thought she outran Ranma only to be tackled to the ground, clutched in his embrace as he rolled with her. Akane cried as he held onto her as she heard the branches on the ground break and the leaves rustle as they tumbled. Slowly, their descent came to a stop and all that was heard was the sounds of the night life of the mountains, Ranma's heavy breathing and Akane's soft sobs.

His heart clenching at the sound of her tears, he tried to comfort the girl in his arms, "Why did you run, 'kane?" he asked, "Please," he found himself begging her, "Stop crying. I'm here…"

"But you don't want _me_ here!" she cried out through her sobs as she clutched his shirt, "Quit it Ranma, stop it," she began to try to fight her way out of his grip, "I-I can't take it anymore!"

Furrowing his brow into a deep v, he tightened his hold on the struggling girl, "_What_ are you talking about, tomboy?"

"Just let me go Ranma!" she cried.

"No!" He said angrily as he made way to sit up with her in his arms, and he pulled her to look at him, his heart breaking as he saw the way her tears kept falling, he brought up his hands and used his thumbs to brush the tears away, "I will **never **let you go, Akane."

At that, Akane fell forward, her arms around his neck as she cried, "Why Ranma?"

_Just say the words._

**Just say it.**

**Author's Note**

Ohh, there I did it, and no…I lied to you last AN and said something worth the whole T to M thing, but … it's me, what'd you expect? But, here's the best thing, this _isn't_ the last chapter of this story. It actually gets more angsty from here! I'm listening to "You'll Be In My Heart" by Phil Collins while I wrote this segment. OHhh man, ya'll gonna hate me for the next chapter. It's going to be so angsty.


	7. Chapter 7: Chances

He opened his mouth to say it, but it went unheard as the overhead thunder rolled throughout the forest. The two looked up at the clouded night sky and Ranma cursed under his breath as the rain began to pelt them. Coming down in hard sheets, Ranma towered over Akane even as his transformation took place. He shielded her from the rain as he looked in her eyes – unreadable.

Slowly, Ranma pulled Akane underneath a hallowed out tree base and the two of them kept their distance. As the rain fell, Ranma kept his gaze focused on the dirt ground slowly become mud. On the other hand, Akane sat with her knees pulled to her chest, breathing slowly as she thought back on what had just happened and a resolve broke through.

She promised she'd do anything to make him happy, so why was she wallowing in her own sadness when he was suffering. After all, she stole a quick glance at her companion and noted with sadness in her eyes the undeniable regret he had in his posture, he doesn't want her.

He deserves someone cute, able to cook and have abilities that may be up to par with his own. So, with that resolve in mind she bowed her head closed her eyes, whispering softly, "Don't do it..."

Ranma sat there, a permanent pink flush over his cheeks as he kept look out for the rain to let up, his clothes, drenched from his earlier antics, clung to his now smaller form and it annoyed him. Scrunching his face, he kept his cool but discreetly loathed his own being. The rain began to slow and as he turned to gain the attention of Akane, he noticed she had fallen asleep. A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips as he slowly rolled his head side-to-side before reaching out and gathering her in his hands.

_Tomorrow_,_ I'll tell her._

As he held her close in his arms, running back to their house, he kept repeating it over-and-over in his mind, like a mantra, "_I'll tell you tomorrow, Akane. I'll tell you tomorrow._"

#

The following morning, Akane woke up in her bed, clothed in her yellow pajamas. Curiosity got the best of her as she inspected the fabric laced on her body and wondered how she got in them if she didn't even recall coming home. A bright blush lighted her whole body as she realized it had to been Ranma, but quickly shook her head free of that notion as Kasumi probably did it.

Slowly getting out of bed, Akane looked at her bare feet as she padded across her room like a criminal trying to break into a stranger's home. She laughed at her own behavior as she pulled open a drawer and took out her jogging clothes. Putting them on, she left her room in the wee hours of the morning and just as she was about to descend down the stairs, she stopped in front of the guest room where Ranma and Uncle Saotome took residence.

She looked at the door for a moment, a vision of calm reverie took place before her memory jogged and she shook her head frantically. Quickly, as to not wake any one, she made her way downstairs and out onto the sidewalk to begin her morning jog.

On the other side of the door, Ranma stared at the shadows casting underneath, affixed between the light stood a figure he instinctively knew belonged to Akane. He watched with interest the shadows grow bigger then smaller as she retreated down the stairs, his heart faltered as he realized she was standing there looking at the door.

Was she waiting for him?

The ground was wet, solid, but wet. Akane felt the slight sticking of her foot as she went the muddier path on her morning jog. Everywhere she went, she was followed by a _shclk, schlk_ sound as her tennis shoes were caked with mud. However, that didn't stop her runner's high as she kept her steady pace on a familiar course. The wind whipped past her hair as she took a corner and the sweat beaded down her face, falling soundlessly onto the ground.

She noted, with happiness, that when she arrived home her morning jog was quite peaceful and refreshing. On that note, she went to the bathroom and drew a bath to start the day.

Hearing the running water from the living room, Ranma concluded that Akane had returned back from her usual routine. Lucky for him, or so he believes, his father slept in after a night of drinking quite heavily with Soun and therefore allowing Ranma a lax morning. Kasumi had passed him not that long ago with the intentions of starting breakfast so the fumes of rice and eggs wafted through the house as he waited.

His eyes were narrowed in the direction of the bathroom; he strained his ears as he listened to the water run for a few more minutes before coming to a complete stop. After that, all he could hear was a loud splash and nothing more. Letting out a sigh, he leaned back and turned the television's volume up one notch as he waited.

#

Akane ran her hand through the warm water, she watched as it trickled down her arm as she raised it and watch it disappear between the valley between her breasts. She gave a half sigh as she looked down at her chest, bringing up her hands she cupped both of them and murmured, "Are they really that small?"

After her episode in the bath, she got readt for the day. From that point, everything 'normal' happened. She sat beside Ranma, ate her breakfast quickly and quietly before excusing herself and leaving. Ranma watched her throughout the whole ordeal and was utterly confused by all of it. He turned to Kasumi.

"Where is she going?"

Kasumi looked up from her bowl, raising an eyebrow, "Oh, Ranma-kun, I'm afraid I don't know."

"What the heck," Ranma groaned as he set out to find Akane. He trudged the all too familiar trail as he seeked out his wayward fiancee. Much to his chargin, he found her sitting in the swing at the park. She was slowly pushing herself back-and-forth on the old swingset. Just as he was about to make his way over, he heard the rustling of a bike and an all-too familiar chime coming from one direction.

He stopped abruptly in his tracks as he looked up, mortified to find that Akane did too. Her guise seemed tired, no longer filed with the ire he was so used to and it hurt him. A screeching sound followed a hard brake from the bike as a mass of purple and perfume mauled him.

"Shampoo too too happy to see airen! Just finished delivery, you take Shampoo and we cuddle, yes yes?" her annoying voice rang.

Akane cringed for a moment as she watched the scene unfold, she saw as Ranma tried horrendously to try and keep his hands off her and Akane idly wondered why. Then it hit her: she was there. She scoffed at that and justly turned her head towards the ground, feigning interest in her feet pushing her.

"_Hmm, I wonder if he'd actually be happier with Shampoo? He goes on and on that I'm built like a brick, Shampoo..._" she idly looked up, "_Sure as hell doesn't lack in that department. She's gorgeous, I'm sure he'd choose her...if not for Ukyo. Seriously?" _ she mentally scoffed, "_Any hot-blooded male would want that. Dammit, I'm getting angry..."_

With that, Akane got up from her swing and turned the other direction. She decided to leave before Shampoo would catch on to her presence. Her mind subconsciously thinking back to a time where a certain Amazonian jewel had steeled her decision way back then.

Busy trying to pry the girl off him, without touching her in any suggestive manner, Ranma failed to notice Akane's leave from the scene. When his eyes finally rose back up to check on Akane all he was greeted by was a lone swing loosely moving.

Shampoo nuzzled against his chest harder, she purred, "Oh airen's heart beating like crazy, too too happy for Shampoo?"

"Damn, Shampoo get offa' me, I'm busy!" Ranma said as he finally gave a hard enough push to make her let go. Shampoo stood off to the side, shocked at the force he used. Ranma ran in the same direction Akane took off.

"Akane!" he called out to nothing.

She heard him, his voice echoing down the sidewalks as she sat on the corner, her legs drawn up to her chest as she watched vendors wheel by. She looked up to see an erratic pigtailed martial artist hovering above her.

Without waiting, he grabbed her wrists and pulled her to a standing position. He leaned down dangerously close, his fringe plastered to his forehead, "Where are you going?"

Akane decided to humor him, "Why, worried?"

"Wh-what no?!" He denied.

Akane gave a pout, a cute pout, "Then why does it matter if you need to know where I'm going all hours of the day," she boldly moved forward, her eyes burning, "I don't ask you the same."

He was silent as he took that in, and gulped hard as she locked eyes with him. He could feel the intensity between them and it fueled his desire for her. The sweet lingering smell of her shampoo wafted by his nose, her flushed cheeks from exerting that hallow statement drove him insane. Not only that, her hot breath against his flushed face, her closeness, only made him crave for more.

"Can't I have one day where I can be by myself?" she asked, "I promise I won't run off somewhere again, geez."

Ranma stared at her as his mind began to cloud. He wondered dryly to himself that she had given it a thought and he was not happy about that. "C-can I join you, then?" he asked out of the blue. He watched as her eyes softened and her lips parted slightly as she drew in a small breath, "Ranma..."

"I miss you," he said, finally telling her, "I-I miss talking to you, hanging out with you...y-you've pulled away, Akane." The blue haired tomboy almost cried, broke her promise and threw herself at him, to tell him that she loved him, and never meant to worry him, but his next line stopped her.

"I thought we were friends?"

Her heart deflated as he finished his sentence and the word 'friends' floated in her mind. The tears she fought so hard to hide broke free and cascaded down her cheeks, her voice broken, "That's it then, you think we're _just_ friends?"

And that was it, all the push she needed as her mind released the endorphins that caused her peace. Her face went slack as she reeled back, letting a breath escape her lips. She stared at him, an empty smile, "That's right Ranma...that's all we are, friends."

#

The change in personality scared Ranma. He kept throwing worried glances at his fiancee as she sat at the table nibbling away on some riceballs. The other day came flitting in his mind as the memory of Akane telling him she was sorry to have worried him, but nothing was the matter. She explained how she felt "confined" and just wanted space, she thanked him for his worry but brushed him off by saying, "Don't worry about me, haha, I'll be fine."

So he tried to believe her.

However, other plans raced through Akane's mind. Her birthday was coming soon, she was turning 20, the legal age of consent in order to not take orders from her father on who she had to marry. All she had to do was elongate the engagement, as to not cause any problems at home for the Saotomes, and soon she'd be free.

But...would that be enough time for her to let go of Ranma?

Wincing slightly at her thoughts, she threw a sidewats glance at her soon to be ex-fiancee and gave a firm mental nod. Clenching her fists, she went back to her food and contemplated silentely to herself. After breakfast, Akane readied herself for the day and was about to leave the house when Kasumi called out to her.

"Akane, while you're out, would you mind picking up some more tea leaves? We're out," Kasumi asked as she placed the folded bill in her sister's hand, "You can pick the flavor."

Akane nodded as she took the money and headed out. She ignored Ranma's calls to wait. He stood, annoyed, at the gate watching her leave on her own. Grumbling under his breath, he decided to follow her.

As she walked through the marketplace, Akane had a small smile playing on her lips. The fabric of her red sundress fluttered about her thighs and her sandals made a soft clak-clack sound as she walked. The bag she held in her arm softly bumped against her with each stride.

When she came upon a vendor for tea leaves, a group of three boys approached from behind. As Akane went to pay, one of the three threw money down for her. She looked back, surprised that someone had paid for her purchace. The young man gave her a sly wink as he said to the vendor, "I'll pay what the cute girl owes, sir. Keep the change."

Cute?

That word fluttered in her mind. Someone had called her cute. She blushed and quickly chastised herself for falling for that, but...it was such a nice change of pace after four years after being called day-after-day, uncute. The three boys then smiled, the one in the middle spoke up, "We couldn't help but notice you when you came by, you had a pretty smile, but...it looks like a ghost of the real one you have. Smile, and let the world know how beautiful you are."

With that, the last guy held out a single red rose towards Akane, "So, take this and know, that you captured three hearts today."

Akane was taken back by the unreal romantic moment that just happened as she took the rose between her fingers and the three males smiled at her, "Remember to smile." And with that, they left.

A big grin broke out on Akane's face as she felt the tears roll down her face in happiness. How often does _that_ happen? As she shook that off as the trio probably being traveling band of actors, but still, she looked down at the rose in her hand, it was a nice gesture. As she took off to do more of her own shopping, Akane failed to feel the angry aura flaring from behind a pole.

Clenching the telephone pole with his hands, the structure began to crumble under the pressure as Ranma glared daggers at the three men. He watched as Akane took the offered rose and then afterwards smile. A feat he hadn't been able to do in months. Narrowing his eyes, he continued on with her pursuit.

It wasn't long when he was caught.

"Hey Ranchan, whatcha doing hiding like that?" Ukyo's voice called out.

And not far from her, Shampoo happened to be at a booth buying vegetables when she heard the outburst. She skipped merrily over with a bag in her hand, "Aiiya, airen play game?"

Ranma cringed as the girls came towards him. The two stared at him, intent on an answer, rather than a battle, when he saw Akane look up from the ribbons vendor she was making a purchase at. He saw her give a soft smile.

"Eh, Ranchan?" Ukyo probbed him out of his fantasy

"Airen wish to play game, or rather," Shampoo pulled out a radish from her bag, "Eat too good food with Shampoo?"

Ukyo looked at Ranma with sad eyes, she had seen Akane and already knew the answer to her question, but she still wanted the blue-haired girl to notice Ranma stalking her, at the very least. Shampoo, she realized, was not taken into consideration when she busted his cover. Oh well...

Ranma revealed himself, and began to unsuccessfully explain. While he did, Akane tried to leave, but in midsentence, Ranma went after her, infuriating Shampoo but Ukyo had nonchalantly stuck her foot out to trip the purple headed Amazon causing them to break out in a petty verbal fight. As she did, the only thought that raced through her mind was, "Go get her Saotome."

**Authors Note**

I dunno, I feel like this is a teaser to my readers. But, I wrote this on my phone, so the screen is tiny. I have this story fleshed, and I'm excited to convey it later. Till next time, darlings.


	8. Chapter 8: Ukyo

Akane tried to hurry, but she knew it was inevitable as she felt Ranma grip her wrist. The all too familiar feelings returned, and she bit her lip as Ranma coiled her into an embrace. He sharply breathed into her ear, "Quit running, dammit."

The groceries in her arms faltered and the tea leaf boxes she had bought fell from the bag. Ranma took a split second to notice what had fallen, and his heart softened: gyokuro tea. His favorite.

He knew she didn't fancy it much, Kasumi usually had them buy the sweeter tea, but he loved the gyokuro flavor, a more bitter tea - so whenever they served it at the house, it was usually only for special occasions, such as his birthday or when they had enough money to splurge for it.

"W-why do you have that tea?" he asked, momentarily forgetting why he was chasing her.

Akane blanched, she scrambled out of his embrace and picked it up, "Kasumi asked me to buy some tea leaves, and we were out."

"Why gyokuro?" he asked.

She was silent.

He knew she hated that tea, well, hate is a strong word, strongly dislikes it - or rather, if she had the choice to not drink gyokuro tea, she wouldn't. Ranma knew she liked the sweeter tea flavors, so the bitter tea she had picked up for the family was odd.

"Something different," she finally muttered as she ushered it back in the bag and turned to leave. But, he wouldn't have none of that has he reached out and grabbed her wrist. He held in place as he held his breath.

He was going to say it. He said he would do it yesterday, but...things didn't go the way they were supposed to. She was still in his hold, but he didn't acknowledge it as he began.

"It's my favorite," he blurted, he mentally slapped himself.

Akane smiled weakly, and in her own mind said, "I know...that's why I picked it..." but said nothing as she looked at Ranma, "Could you let go? Y-you're kinda hurting me."

He looked down to see that he was indeed gripping her wrist tighter than he intended, and like touching hot iron he withdrew his hand away with a blush, he uttered a small apology but Akane didn't take notice as she began to walk away, "Can it wait until I'm done shopping? I'll be home soon."

"Uh," Ranma bit his tongue as he heard the familiar shrills of Shampoo's voice and Ukyo's yells in the distance, "I-I guess."

Akane began to hurry as she said over her shoulder, "Alright, I'll see you at home, have fun."

"H-have fun?" was all Ranma could utter as she disappeared and Shampoo managed to jump on him, rubbing herself against him.

"Finally! Shampoo finally caught up with airen, stupid spatula girl kept interfering! I cook you very yum yum food, hmm airen?" Shampoo cooed.

Ukyo arrived, panting as she bent over, a hard glare on her face as she stared at Ranma, "Where's Akane?"

He turned to her to see the grim look in her gaze, he flinched a bit - it was quite a hard stare. Shampoo chirped happily as she clung to Ranma's neck, "Shampoo glad for one that pervert girl not here, too too annoying."

It was then Shampoo found herself on the ground. She was in shock as she stared up to see Ranma heaving a heavy breath, he narrowed his eyes on the girl and Ukyo, who had given a hard glare to him just moments ago, was not flinching at his own.

"Akane isn't annoying," Ranma gritted through his teeth as he inhaled, closing his eyes he brought his hand up to his temples, "Get outta here Shampoo before I decide not to be nice anymore."

Shampoo brought a hand up to her mouth; she let out an illicit gasp as she cursed in Chinese, "What airen talk about? Never had nothing good to say about too too violent girl."

"Shut the hell up," Ranma found himself yelling, he had to defend Akane, what right did Shampoo have to make fun of his fiancee, "Don't _you_ call her that," he walked forward and Ukyo had to step back to watch in horror.

"I swear right now," Ranma cracked his knuckles for emphasis, "Hitting a girl isn't beneath me."

Since their return from China, Shampoo had been cautious about her motives, but recently reverted back when she had noticed Akane not putting a fight up for Shampoo. But, this Ranma, she cast a scared look over and shivered, was changing too - and it wasn't the way she wanted.

"S-Shampoo go home now," Shampoo lied as she pulled her broken bag over her shoulder, the groceries that were in them spilling out, "Have too too many deliveries to make, uh - be seeing airen later."

At that, she fled the scene not even looking back. Ranma let out a sigh as he stood straight and turned to go after Akane when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced back to see Ukyo there, smiling.

"You really showed her, but you know she's going to be back," Ukyo said, "But hey, if it ain't for tryin'."

Ranma gave his childhood friend a smile, "Thanks Ucchan."

"Hey," she said, before letting him go, she fumbled with the edge of her shirt, "I got something to tell you."

Ranma stopped to look at Ukyo. He saw her battered look, but also the energy behind it - the passion she had for okonomiyaki shining through and her compassion as a person.

"I don't know if this is the right time," she laughed softly, "Or if the right time ever comes, but I gotta let you know: don't let Akane go - go after her, Ranma...don't hurt her anymore."

"Uc-Ukyo," Ranma stammered as he watched the girl smile at him. She put her small hand on his chest, over his heart.

"Hey, I know, you don't have to say it out loud if you aren't ready yet, but everyone with eyes can tell," she said, "But you two ain't making matters easier with ya'lls fits of denials. But, we're grown now - and I know I can never compete with her for your heart, when it was never anyone but hers in the first place."

Ranma smiled fondly at the girl before him, all the words she said had hit him right in the heart and it made him happy to know she understood.

"If anything," she said smiling, "I'm glad to be called your friend, and that's enough. Now," she let go of him and got her spatula ready and pointed it at his chest, "Go after her, jackass before I beat the shit out of you for not trying."

A huge grin busted out on Ranma's face as he put both hands on her shoulders to thank his friend, "You got it."

"Go get her, Ranchan."

**Author's Note**

Woah, woah...did I just update again? So quickly? Yes, and filler, and resolution with Ukyo! (But we all saw that coming, right?) Ah, the whole tea thing actually ties things together in the next chapter; and is not really significant; but it's the little things that matter, right? Well, I hope you enjoy this small update! Next time will have more Ranma/Akane moments. :)


	9. Chapter 9: Announcement

Upon his arrival to the house, the strong aroma of gyokuro tea filled his nostrils. Entering the house, he stepped into the kitchen where Kasumi was preparing a kettle for tea. Looking up from her delicate housework, the eldest sister smiled warmly to acknowledge Ranma.

"Oh, hello Ranma, look at which tea Akane picked it's your favorite," she had began but Ranma abruptly interrupted her.

"Where is she?"

Kasumi pursed her lips slightly, not leading on that she was irked at the way he was handling the situation but she bit her tongue. Looking up, she was taken aback by what she saw: Ranma in a nervous state. Kasumi's seen him in other particular kinds of nervous situations, but this one was different. That, however, did not turn her stance on the predicament as she answered him, "She's in the dojo, talking with father privately."

Just as soon as he found out where she was, he was compelled to go right there. However, the way Kasumi had conveyed her emphasis on the word privately; he thought twice about the repercussions and instead took up space out in the yard overlooking the walkway to the dojo.

He'd wait.

Unfortunately for the martial artist, Soun left the dojo first and as Ranma tried to go pass him, Soun stopped him with his arm out-stretched and turned to him.

"Son, I think it would be best you don't see my daughter for a bit, please honor that."

He had to have said honor that.

Well, damn.

However, that did not stop him as he sat in his room, looking at the calendar that was open on the desk at the side. He ran his hand over the circled date that was tomorrow. A little bit annoyed, he realized it was Akane's 20th birthday and he just now realized it. He shook his head slowly as he groaned at his unfortunate situation.

First the whole turn in character for Akane, the ignoring and subtle facade that she had for him annoyed and worried him. Now, the biggest blow was that he had forgotten her birthday.

_Five months ago was his own 20th birthday and he had woken up to Kasumi setting up his favorite breakfast meal, prepared with, none-other-than gyokuro tea to accommodate his meal. He happily obliged, but despite the greetings from the family he noticed Akane wasn't there._

_After his mother stopping by and dropping off his gift, which his mother proudly whispered, "It's for Akane to wear just in case she gives you your birthday gift tonight, yes?"_

_He blushed furiously as he thanked his mother and hid it away after he looked inside. _

_And Akane accused _him_ of being a pervert?!_

_Speaking of Akane, he noted once again, she was not around. After making a round around the house, he went out to go find her. That was stopped short at the next block when the girls' attacked him, or more rather, showered him with gifts and wishes. He managed to escape, but only as after he ate his fill of food they offered him._

_Well...he is Ranma Saotome, who is he to refuse food? Especially on his birthday._

_It was around 1PM when he found her. He had came home, exhausted from his search to find her in the kitchen with an apron around her waist. No words could describe how cute she looked, so Ranma bit his tongue. She looked up from the item she was hovering over, with tears in her eyes._

_Ranma froze, he stepped back slightly as he watched her wipe her tears away from her tear ridden face, "Oh, I didn't hear you come in..." She stepped away from the counter and Ranma could see the remnants of black charred pieces on the cookie sheet._

_Sadly, Akane stepped forward with an unruly wrapped present in her hands, "Happy Birthday Ranma...I-I tried to bake you some gyokuro based cookies like Kasumi made for your last time...but ..they burned. So, here," she had thrust the gift into his arms, "Sorry it isn't much."_

_He looked at her, the way her hair had a sharpened contrast against her soft pale skin, the way her vibrancy of life shone expressively through her brown eyes made his heart lurch and nervous. Looking down at the present, he began to undo the wrapping to reveal arm braces with his name stitched along the side._

_"I had them customized," she said meekly, "The ones I tried to do...uhm, didn't look as nice."_

_His heart softened more as he picked the arm braces up and admired them. A part of him yearned to have the ones she made by her own hands, just knowing...she did it for him._

_"Thank you," he managed to stutter, "I love them." _I love you.

_It was then her sadness was lifted and she gave him that smile._

He bit his tongue the next morning when he jerked awake. His father wasn't beside him in his futon, and that caused Ranma to be suspicious. Despite that, he hurriedly decided to race to Akane's room. He wanted to be the first to greet her, if he could. Upon his arrival to her room he was surprised to be greeted with an empty room. Beside her bed were bouquets of flowers already adorning her room in festivity. Shaking his head, he raced downstairs where he was met with a grave scene.

His father sat solemnly next to Genma at the head of the table beside Akane, rather than Kasumi. Creating an open spot opposite of the table where Ranma took his seat and sat across the patriarchs and his fiancee. He opened his mouth to say something, but Akane beat him to it.

"Good morning, Ranma." she said, in a mature tone, "I'll thank you now for the birthday wishes that I know you'll share, but right now...is a very important discussion that will continue once your mother arrives."

Confused, Ranma leaned back and stiffly nodded his head. Nabiki sat close, her hands folded on her lap neatly as she tried to analyze the situation. He saw a flicker of movement from the kitchen, whom he could only guess was Kasumi and did nothing more to proceed on with this awkward morning situation. There was a faint voice from the front door and just a few moments later, a brunette emerged in a kimono and took her seat beside her husband. Nodoka gave a sideways glance to Ranma, both sad and nervous for him. That signaled Akane.

Coughing to punctuate her point, Kasumi took that as her cue to come back and offer tea to everyone present. When that was done, Akane began:

"I'd like to start off, first and foremost by thanking you for coming Auntie Nodoka. And for any and all birthday wishes all of you wish to give me later on in the day. However, that is not the bulk of why I have asked everyone here today."

Ranma fidgeted in his seat as he listened to Akane drone on.

Akane looked straight at Ranma and let out a soft sigh, "I plan on ending the engagement, formally today, as it is every right for me to do so, now that I'm of age," Akane stood up and everyone at the table followed her with their eyes, "And that'll be it. No buts," she gave a stern look at the fathers, "Or objections, I feel as though…"

She was considerably silent for a moment as she thought of the right way to say it.

"It'd be rather…useless to continue this _relationship_ we have going here. I'm not against them staying," she said quietly, "They're practically family regardless of our betrothal. I just hope you'd respect me enough to grant me this."

Soun was about to protest when Kasumi put a worried hand on his shoulder. Nabiki stared at her little sister, a sigh of defeat escaping her lips as she shook her head. Genma was about to say his own input when Nodoka stopped him with an outstretched arm. Ranma.

Oh, Ranma.

He looked speechless; Akane noted but said nothing as she turned to leave.

"That's all I had to say…I'm not really hungry right now," she began her trek to her room, "The food smells delicious though, Kasumi."

**Author's Note**  
>Well, it's been a while since I've updated, huh? Well, you can blame school, all the deadlines and all the homework I've had and the additional events that I have circulating around my life. Well, here's the new chapter; and well I'll tell you know the turn of events in this story is a new ground of a new "section" of this story. In chapter 10 it'll be the "end" of this chapter, and will go on until chapter 15 or 20. Think of it as a "two-part" story, or something. Thanks all!<p> 


	10. Chapter 10: End of the Bad Start

Three weeks, two days and six hours have passed since Akane's remark on her birthday. And in that time, Genma had moved out to live with his wife and Ranma had stayed behind. He claimed it was home, and...Soun didn't have any qualms about it. However, the usual rowdy air was gone as Akane's presence was also scarce. But, that didn't stop the somewhat normal flow in the household.

Since the announcement, school had resumed and Akane kept her nose in her studies. Ranma, on the other, would rather spend time in the dojo, practicing katas than do his homework. On one particular day, while he finishing up in the dojo he came upon a scene that gripped him to realize the utmost seriousness of the situation.

He thought he would give her some time.

For her to calm down, let things blow over.

But apparently, Akane wasn't going to wait.

He watched in horror as she stopped short of the gate, retrieving her book bag from some stranger he had never seen before. There he saw her smile in exchange of some words, only to be reciprocated with the man leaning down and kissing Akane's cheek. Ranma waited for Akane to blow up, raise her hand to slap him for infringing on her person, but all he got in return was her reaching up to rest her fingers against the spot he had kissed and her cheeks turning a rosy pink.

Akane blushed as she stared at the ground, the moment she mustered up the courage she faced the boy in front of her and graced him with one of her smiles, "Thanks for walking me home, Hiro."

"Anytime, Akane," the Hiro boy replied.

It hurt. He was on first name basis with her already, was allowed to kiss her freely without any fear of rejection, he...he held her books.

Ranma stood frozen to the spot, unable to phantom what had just happened. He couldn't -wouldn't- believe it, and it, a lot.

He felt the tears stinging, but he bit his lower lip and forced him away from it. Ranma then watched as Akane made her way inside, she had to walk past him to do so and she said, in a small voice, "Afternoon Ranma."

Part of Ranma wondered if what he felt was even a fraction of Akane felt when the other fiancée's hung around him. He mumbled a hello and watched her, not even a glance, go inside. Shaking his head, he retreated into the dojo, and relaxed into the lotus position trying to clear his mind.

Hours later, the hum of the kitchen stove perked Ranma's ears from the family room. Getting up into a sitting position, he casted a glance towards the door that led towards the kitchen. As his mind began to wander, Nabiki had waltzed by the door, a lollipop lingering between her teeth, "Wouldn't bother, Romeo, Akane-chan's the one occupying the kitchen. If you had smarts," Nabiki continued her trek to the front door, "You'd find yourself at one of your fiancées' place for dinner."

With that, the middle Tendo child had slipped on her shoes and left. Ranma's brows furrowed slightly at her suggestion only to be punched in the taste buds as an enchanting aroma danced around his nostrils. He caved in and decided to investigate.

He came upon a scene he was familiar with: Akane in the kitchen, in an apron, cooking. However, her overall demeanor was different. In shock, he watched as she tasted her dish and didn't revolt. With the wooden spoon tilted at her lips, it was then she acknowledged him with a raised eyebrow. All the while putting the finishing touches on her food, she wondered, "Oh? I didn't know you were still here," she reached out to wipe her hands, "I thought you of all people would be one of the firsts to amscram outta here once you found out I was cooking."

Ohh, that hurt.

Ranma indulged in a deep breath and attempted to keep his demeanor, but with a scowl on his face he asked, "Why? You expectin' someone while everyone's away?"

He meant it as a joke, nothing more. But when Akane turned her head away from him, breaking eye contact, he knew...that this wasn't a joke.

"No one was supposed to be home," Akane whispered as she then turned her attention back to Ranma, "Hiro's visiting."

The next four words tore Ranma into a jealous petty kid, but did nothing."

"I'm making _him_ dinner."

Ranma casted a quick glance around the room, seeing the boiling pot of curry and rice set aside. He looked at Akane, whom returned back to her stirring, then took a deep breath.

"Tch," he began his normal prattle, "Poor guy doesn't know what he's in for. Poor sap."

He waited for Akane's comeback, her rebuttal...her anger. But all she did was shrug and sampled the curry once more, "He asked me to cook for him, whether he likes it or not," Akane turned the stove off and allowed it to simmer, "It's the fact he wanted to try, so it'd be worth it in the end. Now," Akane moved around the kitchen, untying her apron revealing a red summer dress that clung nicely to her figure, "If you don't mind, leaving the house for a bit? No more than an hour...at least."

Ranma grumbled as he was being pushed out of the way and said so much in his mind, but he decided to humor Akane and leave with a remark, "Tch, it's not like it's a date."

Just as Akane gave Ranma a slight push out of her way, she said in a low tone, "Actually it is, Hiro and I are girlfriend and boyfriend."

Ranma didn't even get a say in that as he now faced the outside with Akane gone from his side. His heart seemed to hitch as he stared lifelessly at the pond as the words "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" echoed in his mind.

When did this happen?

How did their relationship get established?

Why...didn't he try harder?

Humming to herself, Akane bit her lower lip to stop herself from tearing up. In her mind, she chanted over and over, "He's happy. He's happy without me."

"WHAT?!" Ukyo exploded as she dropped the batter in a messy heap on the grill and she hurriedly tried to salvage the mix, "Akane-chan wouldn't! There's no way!"

Ranma sat on the other side, his head lowered as he mumbled incoherently, "But it's true, she...she's even making him dinner."

That did it as Ukyo splattered the mix-ins all over the grill top and Konatsu scrambled for them before they littered the floor. Ukyo stood frozen, her hand in mid-motion as she stared down at her childhood friend. In her mind, similar thoughts ran through her mind as she tried to make something out of the information Ranma conveyed to her. It seemed all unreal and she couldn't even begin to imagine...

She thought, and thought some more. Nothing seemed to add up and it baffled her. Beside her, Konatsu had taken the bag and had finished making the okonomiyaki for her when Ukyo slammed both her hands onto the spit-fire hot grill with a cheesy grin, "I got an idea, Ranchan!"

Ranma looked up, eyebrow raised as he watched Ukyo recognize her hands being on the hot grill before settling back into her calm demeanor, "Like, I think I know how we can salvage this situation, honey!"

"I doubt it," Ranma scoffed, "She has someone she likes."

"Doesn't mean anything!" Ukyo said as she walked around the counter and forced Ranma into a standing position, "Come on, Ranchan, don't give up hope now! Think of it as another challenge!"

In a sad voice he muttered, "That's what she thought...when I told her I loved her, that I cared -t-that it didn't mean anything because of my ego," he looked at Ukyo, "She didn't believe me."

Ukyo paused, sadness on the onset of her features as she knew what Akane had meant when she must have told Ranma that. And it hurt seeing her friend in so much hurt because of this, so she bit her lip, "Oh...Ranchan."

Ranma sulked back into the seat, lowering his head into his hands as he groaned, "It just...ain't worth it, if she's happy with him," his voice stilled, "Then...who am I to stop that?"

"Maybe as the guy who broke her heart," Ukyo snapped, "You at least owe it to her to try. Are you seriously sulking Ranma Saotome over this tiny obstacle, this Hiro in Akane's life when you -" she paused to choose her next words wisely as she recalled the heart-wrenching story Ranma decided to share with her after the wedding fiasco about their trip to China, "She came back for you?"

"Go talk to her," Ukyo said, "Go talk to her one last time and if that doesn't work," she licked her lower lip, "I got an idea."

Later that night, Ranma returned home to see Akane in the family room with the television on. Her eyes were glued to the screen as the halftone pixels danced across the screen, illuminating the dark room with its prism of colors. A wave of relied flooded him as he was glad to see that she was alone.

"Akane?" he meekly sought out.

Akane turned her attention away from her program to peer up at him; she gave a soft and simple smile as she turned the volume down, "Yeah?"

"Can we talk?"

They sat across from one another, and Ranma caught something adorning her neck. He cringed inwardly as he saw the simple daisy pendant hang prettily by a delicate silver chain around her slender neck. That was new.

"What did you want to talk about, Ranma?" Akane asked bluntly as she adjusted herself in the seat, "Hmm?"

Gulping, Ranma began to lose his nerve but remembered what Ukyo had talked to him about and he regained his resolve, "I-I just wanted ta...ask you something."

"Ask away," Akane responded.

Ranma fumbled with his words before he finally managed to spurt out, "When did you two s-start dating?"

Akane was taken aback by such a blunt statement and Ranma seemed to exhibit the same reaction but he then pulled a serious look and waited for her answer.

"Oh," she blushed prettily as she played with the pendant on the chain, turning it over and over between her fingers, "He asked me last week."

"Do you like him?" Ranma asked quickly.

"Uh," Akane stopped messing with that piece of jewelry, "You think? I said yes, Ranma," she said irritated.

"No," Ranma quickly responded, "That's..that's not what I meant by that."

"What do you mean then?"

"Uhh," Ranma froze once more.

Akane shook her head and began to get up to leave when Ranma reached over and held her by her wrist, holding her back, he turned his head and said through gritted teeth, "No, _**please**_, Akane –let…let me finish."

Akane sighed as she sat back down and stared straight at Ranma.

"Do you love me?"

Blinking, Akane stared hard at Ranma thinking it was some sort of joke and she was not laughing. Shaking her head, she let out a hallow laugh as she placed both hands onto the table and brought herself up, her eyes never tearing from his, "You want to know something?"

Ranma didn't answer as she kept going, her cool demeanor failing her, "There was a point in my life when I could say I _did_."

She then excused herself, turning on her heel, "But, that's in the past, Ranma."

**Author's Note  
><strong>So, please don't hurt me. You wait for so long and this is the end I leave you on? Well, let me tell you that _I'm Happy_ isn't finished! But, this "part one" is finished, in Chapter 11, it'll start a whole new _story_, but it's just the continuation. And remember, I'm a **hardcore **Ranma and Akane fangirl, so…but enjoy!


	11. Chapter 11: Stay

"No, that doesn't go there," Akane said softly as she moved from behind the kid she was tutoring and erased the answer they put down for the problem, "You have to find the limit first, take it from when h goes to zero."

Mari looked down in confusion as Akane continued to explain the calculus problem and when realization hit as her tutor demonstrated what needed to be done, she exclaimed, "Oh! I see, and that's how you find the derivative by definition then?!" Akane smiled down at her student and gave a friendly smile, "Yes, and that's all there is to it, do you understand?"

Nodding her head furiously and taking pencil to paper she began solving the problems faster than she did before. A smile still etched on her face, Akane took her seat and leaned back, basking in the aftermath of helping someone understand a math problem. The past two weeks helped with her stress as she finally gave in to her Professor's request to be a tutor to underclassmen. She quickly glanced at the clock to discover that she had an hour before the tutoring session ended.

Elsewhere, on the other side of Nerima, Ranma was head-to-toe combat with Shampoo. He had her by the neck, pinned against a concrete wall with a face full of rage before a wooden stick interfered between the two combatants. He followed it to the latter's great grandmother who had worry etched across her face.

"Enough now boy," she said as though her throat was dry, "You've done enough, stop now before y-you kill my granddaughter."

Ranma loosened his grip around the purpling Shampoo and watched with a dark look as she slumped to the ground clutching her neck, trying to breathe. Cologne stepped in-between them and looked up at Ranma who had taken a knee and wiped the sweat from his brow with his hand.

"It's never a good thing when we have to come to terms like this, but my idiotic granddaughter had made a stupid move to insult the Tendo girl before you like that, Ranma," she began, trying to conceal her wavering voice, "It is my utmost displeasure to have to say this, but Shampoo's husband mus-"

"I am not her damn husband," Ranma gritted between his teeth as he rose and his aura began to rise, the fire in his eyes fueling his desire to express his hate through actions, "It's because of her Akane doesn't believe me, and her just bad mouthing 'kane like that," he cracked his fingers, "Doesn't help matters when I haven't seen 'kane in a while."

"Maybe you ought to cool down," Cologne said as she ushered Shampoo behind her, "Listen to reason son-in-law."

Ranma shot a glare at the elder and she flinched. Ranma clenched his fists and promptly turned around, "I don't want to hear that coming from you, it'll be in your advantage to leave me alone now."

On that, they left on his request and all the boy could do was sigh. Leaning against a wall, he exhaled as he unclenched his fists at his side. Slowly, his mind trailed over to the girl who broke his heart.

At this time, people hussle and bussle away from their hellholes and back into the embrace of their homes during rush hour. Akane took this time to take the scenic route home, her books nestled against her chest as she passed other Nerima residents. The soft click clak of her shoes clinked against the pavement, resounding around her as she walked the long forgotten path by the canal.

Her eyes drifted lazily over to the chain-linked face and her demeanor softened as the hazy memory of a walking companion haunted her vision. Her lower lip trembled as she tore her gaze away and continued on her way home. Talking softly to herself, she mumbled, "I miss those days..."

"I'm home!" she greeted as she took her shoes off at the front of the house. Waiting for an answer, she was surprised to hear _his_ voice reply.

"They're out," he walked out of the living room, his gaze harbouring the faintest hint of longing, "...and welcome home."

Akane stopped in her tracks as she stared at him. Though the two lived together under the same roof, she had not had the chance to see him. So busy with her extracirrcular activities from the university, their schedules clashed and they had no time for each other.

And she liked it that way, or so she liked to think that she did.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, as if oblivious to the internal battle Akane was having, which he was, "I made some miso soup."

"Sure," she found herself saying, not realizing that Ranma had something on his mind.

And he did, for he was tired of waiting. He understood.

He understood that if _she_ didn't understand, _he_ sure as hell will make her.

She followed him into the kitchen where they sat at the island, Ranma poured a portion for her and pushed the plate towards her.

"It isn't much," he said.

Tentatively, the girl took the spoon and proffered bowl and proceeded to sample his dish. Ranma watched, warily, as she tried.

"It's good," Akane commented, "Better than what I could make that's for sure." She added that last bit in turn to make him smile, but all she got in return was a deep frown. Trying to salvage her bad joke, she punctuated the end with a soft giggle.

"How's Hiro?"

He sure was straight to the point.

"Hmm?" Akane responded, "He's fine, I'm sure."

At that, Ranma silently fumed. To his knowledge, he had assumed that the reason, aside from school duties and the sort, that Hiro was the cause of her absence most days. Then again, he didn't know Akane tutored students...

"Really, why is that?"

"Dunno," Akane shrugged, "I'm not Hiro, I can't tell you how he is."

"You hang out with him a lot, surely you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Akane shot back, her usual anger at the base of her tone, "Watch what you accuse, Ranma."

"I'm just asking," he defended.

"Well," Akane turned her head in an angry huff, "I don't know what he does, I haven't seen him since I broke up with him."

Broke...up?

"WHAT?!" Ranma practically all but yelled.

It took all Akane had not to be blown away by his outburst, but she stood her ground as she casually continued eating, "Yeah. We dated for...like five days..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he said in a rush.

Akane knitted her brows together, only to unweave them and have one shoot up in a questioning manner, "Well, you never asked."

The poor boy almost faceplanted at her bluntness at the seriousness of the situtation. He recovered, only to look at Akane - actually look at her. Slowly coming to a conclusion, he saw that despite her tired look, she seemed to radiate a soft glow around her and...she never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment.

Then again, all he had in the past weeks were memories of her precesnce, so this face-to-face time was heaven to him. He gulped as he watched her finish her bowl off and began to leave only to reach out and grab her wrist, pleading mentally for her to stay before he said it out loud.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

Akane looked at him, and despite what her mind was saying her heart won and she obliged him and returned to her seat.

"What, Ranma?"

"Uh," his mind wandered, he decided being blunt would be the best way to go, "Where...are you then, after school I mean, if you aren't with Hiro?"

"At the University," Akane replied coolly as she folded her hands before her in a neat fashion, "I'm a tutor for mathematics, y'know."

"Oh," came his reply, only to be followed by, "Wh-why?"

Turning her head to let out a soft sigh, she entertained his query, "Nothing tying me down at home, so why not?"

He took his chance.

"If I ask you to stay," his voice cracking as his octave hitched, but it came down to his nornal baritone, "Would you?"

Surprised at his remark, Akane had to turn to look at him. Her brows were furrowed in confusion as she replayed what he had asked her. Mind blown, heart racing, the girl looked at him with sparkling brown eyes, "Depends."

Ranma held his breath, worry capturing his demeanor as he felt the wall begin to break.

"Are you asking?"

**Author's Note**  
>Ohh, this story is slowly coming to an end. A few more chapters to wrap it up and it will be complete. I hope you enjoy! I also wanted to mention, my spring semester of college started up and I am taking Database concepts and structures, Stats, ethics and organization so my schedule is all sorts of wonky, and I will try to have time to write! Try, but my schedule, as you can see, is pretty...yeah. Well, see ya lovelies! <em>Slight Edit: 1-24<em>: Oops, when working on a mobile phone, the letters get all mixed up but I should have fixed the "Nermia" to "Nerima"'s, and fixed a few spelling mistakes. 


	12. Chapter 12: For You (Final Chapter)

"Uh," he hesitated as he stared at her, avoiding eye-contact.

What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he ever just come up and say it straight up instead of just standing there like an idiot not knowing what to do, afraid of what the outcome might be?

While he stood there, momentarily lost in the midst of fear.

"Because if you did," Akane said as she made her way off the ground and brought the dishes to the sink, "I'd have to decline."

_I'd have to decline. I'd have to decline. I'd have to decline._

With brows furrowed in frustration, his vision blurred with angry tears as he punched the dummy out in the yard. All around him, a few leaves fell and landed on the ground. Some brushed lightly passed him and fell into the little pond that he practiced beside. With that aside, the martial artist continued his training until he began to slump over and just lean against a tree feeling defeat.

"Does she hate me that much?" he asked himself as he ran his arm roughly across his eyes, "All does is torment me now," he murmured softly as he began to return back into the house. Going inside, he passed the calendar and mentally noted that it had been one whole day since she said she'd deny his request. One whole day.

School was hell, more-so than usual, for him and he went straight to the yard to vent out his anger on the dummy. So, when he entered the house to find Akane sitting in the living room by herself, he was shocked. Usually, she'd be at her tutor session.

Hearing him come in, Akane turned her attention to Ranma and gave a half-smile, "Wondering why I'm here?"

He didn't answer. He found that if he kept his mouth shut, maybe just maybe, he'd get the answer as to why.

"Hm?" Akane asked as she shut the television off and stood up to face him, now face-to-face, "No answer?"

"I-I," he began as he gulped, looking down at her, catching her eye, "I don't know how to answer that."

"Really? You usually find a way to answer my questions," she began, putting her hands on her hips, "Usually find a way to piss me off too…"

"Ah, but Aka-," he began but shut up when Akane put her finger up to his lips, silencing him.

"Remember what you asked me yesterday?" she asked.

He nodded.

"So, I assume you remember my response?"

Once more, he nodded.

"Then, I should let you know that _I've _quit my tutoring because I want to stay with you. And now, it's up to you," she pushed herself up, making her seem taller than she seemed as she came chin-to-eyebrow level with him, "Do you want _me_ to stay with _you_? Or would you rather have me leave?"

"I love you." He blurted out, he said, afraid to lose her again, he gulped as he watched her smirk.

"I know," she said as she reached up and pulled him down to bring him into a kiss, when they parted briefly, she whispered to him, "I know, but you didn't answer my question."

She pulled away, "Ranma?"

"Will you stay?"

"Only because _you _asked."

"Good," he said as he reached forward and gripped her hard, her arms went around him, "Because you make me happy."

"_The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things." – Henry David Thoreau, Walden & Civil Disobedience_

**Author's Note  
><strong>I know I said in my last AN that there would be a few more chapters, but I went ahead and ended this. I think I lost my inspiration for this story and wanted to wrap it up. It may be a little…"fast-paced" and I apologize. I wanted to make sure it came to an end though, I don't think this was the initial end I wanted but it'll do for now. Maybe one day I'll revisit this idea, but for now it's complete. Sorry for the super late update!


End file.
